Lil
Lil turned up in the spring of 2011, after the Syracuse University students had abandoned their pets and left town, She was a cute little black-and-white short-hair cat, a small six–pound girl, with long legs.
Her name derived from ‘Little One’: I would tell the big strays to let the little one eat, and they would. She held her own, alternatively purring and growling at them. Blackjack had turned up the winter before Lil. He was twice her size and growled at her whenever she got near. I was sitting on the ground between them, with Lil running around him purring, while Blackjack growled. I told him to stop it. He did, and soon was purring. That was the first time I heard him purr.
She was friendly and easy to handle, and I had her spayed that summer. I had usually been able to find homes for nice young cats, but this time I failed. Perhaps because of the economy, no one wanted to take on any more pets. Since I already had five cats in my apartment, I couldn’t take her in myself.
In the spring of 2012, she turned up with a bad puncture wound in her tail, but Lil recovered from that. I kept her inside while she healed, and she was a perfect guest.
Except that she wanted back out. When the E-collar came off, I let her back out. She would still visit, coming to the back door, meowing to come inside. She would drink from one of the Drinkwell fountains and visit with my cats. She liked to eat on a shelf on a kitchen rack. Then she would curl up and take a nap on a kitchen chair until it was time to resume the hunt. Occasionally, she would spend the night, but she was difficult to keep inside for long. Once, when I didn’t let her back out, she ripped the screen door to get out. I didn’t find out until she meowed for me to let her back inside!
She would follow me around the neighborhood. On several occasions, I had to turn back from the gym to lock her up. She would run into traffic to follow me.
I last saw Lil healthy on Thursday. On Sunday, September 2, 2012 (Labor Day weekend) I went out to feed the cats around 8AM. Bob went over sniffing around the shelters, and Lil came crawling out. I immediately knew she was injured and went inside to get a carrying case. When I came back, she was gone. About 40 minutes later, I went back out. I didn’t see her at first, but she came crawling up the steps looking for me. (I was behind her, at the trunk of the car.) I grabbed her and we went to the Emergency Vet Clinic.
I could smell the necrosis on the way there. She had a broken leg, injuries to the other leg, probable massive internal injuries, bleeding from the anus, and was covered with blood and feces. She had maggots in her wounds and fur.
In response to my question, Dr. Park told me that her prognosis for recovery was “considerably less than 60%” . I decided to euthanize her. I’ll always second-guess that decision, but it seems to have been the only practical and merciful solution. Dr. Park concurred.
Lil died fairly easily. She had been cleaned of the worst filth and wrapped in a blanket. She was given a sedative. She was calm. I was talking to her, looking into her eyes and picking those little burrs out of her fur that she always picked up, when she received the lethal injection. The light went out of her eyes. Her bladder and bowels were already empty, so there was no mess. There were no convulsions or twitching. I’m thankful that she made it home. She would have died slowly and painfully over a course of several more days if she hadn’t. She had always played the daredevil with cars, and I’m not surprised that she got hit.
She will be missed by many people in the neighborhood, and the cats she often played with, especially Charcoal, a neighboring housecat. (She and Charlie loved to stalk each other around the back yard.) Two people were considering whether to adopt her when she died. Many liked her, but none could give her the shelter that she need, including me. I thought she would rapidly get a home, since she cute, young, and friendly. I only had room for one more, so I brought Blackjack in after he was badly injured. I should have made room for Lil. At least, she was never hungry in the last year of her short life.
Bye, Baby.
